ean Little’s most recent book, The Sweetest one of all, is a picture book for very young children and their parents. In it, barnyard animal babies ask their mothers who they are and each of them is told that he or she is the sweetest one of all. The book ends with a human mother telling her little one the same thing. And getting a loving hug in response. The playful text should continue to delight both children and adults even after many readings.

The colourful illustrations by Marisol Sarrazin are endearing and filled with lively detail. Each will hold small readers spellbound.

Jean Little

J

ean Little is recognized throughout Canada and the United States for her candid and unsentimental portrayals of adolescent life. Once a teacher of handicapped children, Little herself is only partially sighted, and she uses much of her real-life experience as the basis for her books.

Jean Little has led an extraordinary life. Nearly blind from birth, she had what her friends called "bad eyes". Subjected to ridicule, rejection and bullying, she often withdrew into a world of her own—the world of her imagination.

But she still had to live in the real world, to struggle to make a place for herself, to find friends, even to attend regular classes. Encouraged by her parents, she began to write poetry and stories. By the time she was seventeen, her poetry had been published in a national magazine, and after that she never looked back.

Honest, moving and sometimes very funny, this is an unforgettable account of the joys and pains of childhood and growing up, of family and of love.